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Full user review
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41 out of 42 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Dell XPS Good, Toshiba a little better."
Pros: Super Bright Screen, Harmon Speakers are awesome, solid gaming performance
Cons: battery life is a little short
Summary: I finally had a chance to test out the DELL XPS and the G25 at the same time. Here is what I found from my personal experience. The DELL has great gaming performance, and it was a bit faster than the G25. After watching DVD's for more than 20 minutes the Toshiba's screen was a lot nicer than the DELL. I found the colors on the Toshiba to be brighter, and the clarity on the toshiba's 1440X900 resolution better for everyday use than DELL's higher resolution screen. The icons on the DELL were way to small, and then when you adjust them to a lower setting to make them bigger, the icons are fuzzy. I would say with confidence Toshiba's screen is better. As for the speakers I would go with Toshiba. Even though the DELL has a built in sub, the Toshiba's sound at high levels was crisper. The reviewers that give Toshiba a score of 1 obviously havent touched the notebook. This notebook was just released, and please dont review until you have played around with it for a little while. The XPS Gen 2 is a great machine, but you gotta give credit to Toshiba for making a great all around notebook. Both are high powered machines, and while the Toshiba might be a touch slower for gaming, DELL's screen is not that great. Who wants to spend $3,000 + with a below standards screen? For a 17" screen the 1440x900 is way better than a higher resolution screen. I dont like DELL's fuzzy text at lower resolutions.
A lot has to do with personal perference, so check them out for yourself Like I did.
- 5 replies to this review
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I would like to read what others are saying about the reviews but the links are not active. Why?
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Numerous users adjust WUXGA (1920x1200) notebook displays down to 1280x1024 and then complain that it is "fuzzy". ANY LCD display looks fuzzy when it is not at the "native" display.
You can make Icons bigger without changing the resolution to a fuzzy lower setting.
Just adjust one or both of two settings:
- Display Appearance - increase font size to as big as necessary. Do this for the Active Title Bar, Menu, Icon and Tooltip settings.
- Display Settings DPI Setting. Raising this to Large or custom makes the screen look "normal sized" while not getting fuzzy. BUT, it usually distorts a few "dialog boxes" so that you can't click buttons. Some users don't need these dialog boxes, others will just have to do without the large DPI setting advantages.
Many "applications" don't use the Windows Appearance settings and they may continue to have tiny menus and icons. Only trial and error can reveal have far you can go with this "fix".
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I totally agree with the Dell M170 user. I purchased one myself.
When I first booted it up, I noticed the resolution problem right away. The display was very dark and the letters and icons were very distorted.
Right away I contacted Dell to complain about the problem. They acted as though I was the only user in the World that had ever complained about this, which is hard for me to believe.
They took me me through tons of troubleshooting steps, which I knew would not resolve the issue. They even went a step further to have me download a new driver, which I was quite sure would not resolve the issue as well.
We went on and on for sometime before they agreed to send out a replacement. I received the replacement and it was almost worse than the first one.
I contacted Dell again and ended up requesting a full refund for the untit. For 3100, you would want better quality.
I have not tested out the Toshiba, however, I have gotten a chance to see the display which is alot better.
I purchased the Dell for Animation and Video editing. So far, the Dell M170 was a bad investment.
On the brighter note, they agreed that I can get a full refund, so I am happy.
Please look around before purchasing. -
did you change the setting on dell from 120dpi to 96dpi? Dell ships with 120 dpi.
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NVidia tends to have fuzzier text than that of ATI, hence the difference between the XPS Gen2 and the Toshiba.
Though the reviews say that the Toshiba can hold its own in modern games, I have doubts that it can run things a year or two from now, compared to the 6800, which should be able to handle future games.
